1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a webbing winding force restraining device used in an occupant protecting seatbelt system for restraining a winding force of an occupant restraining webbing when necessary to obviate a sense of oppression which would otherwise be given to an occupant.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In a seatbelt system for protecting an occupant in an emergency situation of a vehicle such as a collision, a webbing is fastened about the occupant, the webbing is adapted to restrain and protect the occupant in an emergency situation of the vehicle, and one end portion of the webbing is wound into a retractor secured to a vehicle body through a biasing force. In consequence, a predetermined tensile force is constantly applied to the webbing to closely fasten the webbing about the occupant, however, this tensile force acts on the occupant as a sense of oppression to cause a fatigue to the occupant during driving for a long period of time.
To obviate the above-described disadvantage, there have heretofore been proposed various winding force restraining devices in which the winding force is restrained from acting on the webbing after the webbing has been fastened about the occupant, to thereby obviate the sense of oppression which would otherwise be given to the occupant.
Notwithstanding, with these winding force restraining devices, positions of actuating and releasing the restraining action are improper, and a large gap tends to occur between the webbing and the occupant during normal running of the vehicle, and, even after the webbing is unfastened from the occupant, the restraining action is not released and the webbing is not properly wound into the retractor, whereby the webbing droops, thus causing a hindrance to the door closing action. Furthermore, with the conventional winding force restraining device, there has been the disadvantage that, during normal running condition of the vehicle, when the occupant changes his driving posture to allow the webbing to be unwound from a takeup shaft, the restraining action tends to be accidentally released.